I love the book of Hebrews.  I studied it and taught it all last summer, and I am studying it and teaching it now on Facebook Live.  I hope to teach it this summer, too, at my church.  It is one of my favorite books of the Bible because it encourages me in knowing that I can approach God’s throne with full confidence.  It is also full of warnings and exhortations that challenge me.

Currently I am studying Hebrews Chapters 5 and 6 that discuss those who were spiritually immature and those who were mature.  Those who were spiritually immature were still stuck on learning the ABCs of the faith.  They had not advanced past the elementary, foundational principles of Christianity.  But those who were mature could understand the hard subjects and were experienced in God’s word.

Although I am a Bible teacher, I find myself feeling very immature in one area of my walk with God:  my faith.  Instead of growing in my faith, I actually feel like I am regressing.  Over the weekend, I looked over some notes from a class that I taught on prayer and intercession seven years ago.  That Lisa had so much more faith than this Lisa.  That Lisa hounded heaven for healing for her son, and this Lisa can barely believe that her own body will be healed.

I have faith that God CAN heal me, but I struggle to believe that He WILL.

Someone once said,”Faith is not believing that God can, but it is knowing that He will.”

Girls, I just don’t KNOW THAT HE WILL.  I’m not sure.  I doubt.  I look around me, and I don’t see everyone that believes getting healed.  So I’m not sure if I will, either.

Perhaps you feel the same way in circumstances in your own life.  You know that God CAN pay the bills, but you don’t know that He WILL.  You know that God CAN protect your child from bullies, but you don’t know that God WILL.  You know that God CAN supernaturally remove that lump in your breast, but you don’t know that God WILL.  You know that God CAN change the heart of your husband, but you just don’t know that He WILL.

I really want to believe that He will.  I want to have that kind of faith. Paul tells us in Hebrews 6:12 to “be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Did you catch that?  Those who have faith and patience inherit the promises.

The Bible is full of God’s promises about healing.  And it is full of God’s promises about provision.  It is jam packed with promises about protection.  It has promises about how God can change hearts.

Can we, through faith and patience, inherit these promises too?  Are these promises accessible to us?  Yes.  

Can we imitate those who have gone before us, who through faith and patience inherited promises?  Yes. 

Let’s ask God to give us more faith.  Jesus, after all, is the author and perfecter of our faith.  Let’s ask Him to perfect our faith and to make it complete and mature.  Let’s ask God to give us patience.   We need patience as we petition God in prayer and we wait for His answers.  I am more apt to give up when I don’t get my answer after one day of prayer.  We need patience to continue to pray and hound heaven UNTIL we also inherit the promises.

I don’t want to be immature anymore.  I don’t want to be lazy and sluggish anymore in regards to my faith, I want to grow.  I want to be like those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.  I bet you do, too.

God, we come to you as those whose lives desperately need to inherit your promises.  We ask that you would give us faith and patience so that we can inherit your promises.  Jesus, we ask that you would mature our faith.  We don’t want to be babies in our faith any more.  Let us embrace that faith that is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.  Let us imitate those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises.

If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to comfort struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.

Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.